Ko will be the latest youngster turning heads this week at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the LPGA season. With poise, precision and putting, the 5-4 Ko has won three pro tournaments, as well as the U.S. Women's Amateur. As an amateur, she has left more than $500,000 on the table, the penalty for not being a pro. But Ko doesn't look at it as a punishment, because time, she will tell you, is on her side.

The 15-year-old's mind hasn't changed about her thirst to go to college, for her education is as important as dollar bills. Increased speculation and scrutiny won't change that. If she decides to turn pro before her 18th birthday, however, because she loves the game and loves competing against the best in the world, she'd create a headache for LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan. Ko would have to petition the LPGA tour to allow her to become a member, and far more players are denied than accepted.

"I haven't really thought about it when I'm by myself and practicing," said Ko, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1997 and moved with her family to New Zealand when she was 6. "But then more and more people ask and that's when I deliberately think about it. But my parents and I, we just are playing golf right now. I'm just enjoying another day. My plans haven't really changed. I definitely will go to college. But when I will go is a question mark."

Besides, Ko, whose nickname is Lyds, has other things to do than think about dollar signs. She is studying for her psychology, photography, English and other classes at Pinehurst School in Auckland. Facebook makes her as happy as hitting a perfect flop shot, Twitter puts a smile on her face just like a well struck tee shot, and Criminal Minds, the CBS hit show, intrigues her as much as trying to hit a cut shot into a tight right pin.

And she's getting ready for the Kraft Nabisco, where it wouldn't be wise to discount her chances to win despite a loaded field including world No. 1 Stacy Lewis, five-time major winner Yani Tseng and scores of others.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand with the trophy after winning the CN Canadian Women's Open in August 2012. She was 14, the youngest LPGA winner.(Photo: Harry How, Getty Images)

Ko will tee off in the first round Thursday with another former prodigy, Michelle Wie, who tied for third here as a 16-year-old in 2006.

"She's good," said Lewis, emphasizing the word good. Lewis played the final round with Ko in the Canadian Open. "The last nine holes in Canada is probably one of the best nine holes I have ever seen. The nerves didn't hit her until the 18th. It was like she was playing a Sunday practice round with her best friends at home, just having fun.

"Obviously she is extremely talented. She putts it really, really well. And that's the key – that's what separates her from so many others. And she's still pretty naïve, so I don't think she even knows how good she is, so there are no clouded messages up there."

Golf Channel analyst and Hall of Famer Judy Rankin also was in Canada is as impressed with Ko's emotions and she is with Ko's swings.

"She has this wonderful demeanor about her," Rankin said. "She talks about being nervous, but boy, you can never see it. She's just very, very calm. She has just a beautiful golf swing, and she seems to play within herself.

"I just can't see where she won't be a very significant player in our game."

And Golf Channel analyst and former LPGA player Val Skinner said she sees a lot of Lorena Ochoa in Ko, who loves to invent shots with an expansive imagination and strong heart, be it hitting a hybrid from 140 yards or a 3-wood around the green, just as the former world No. 1 did.

"They both choke down on the club, both move the ball in both directions," Skinner said. "There is that certain spice in Ko's game like there was in Lorena's. … I love it when I ask her why she is so good and she just throws up her hands and says, 'I don't know.'"

All Ko knows is she loved golf almost from the time her aunt gave her a 7-iron and a putter when she was 5. From the beginning, it is the challenge of the game that makes her love it.

"There really is no round where you are completely satisfied. You can shoot 66 but you think about the putt that didn't go in or the shot you didn't hit right," Ko said. "You can always get better. I love it.

" … When you start winning, it makes you feel really good but you remember how tough it is. So I calm myself down and come down to the ground and keep working on all my shots like I was before I played in my first professional tournament."

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Inbee Park of South Korea poses with the trophy after winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunay at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. She won by four shots to claim her second major title.
Jeff Gross, Getty Images

Suzann Pettersen of Norway fires her second shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Stephen Dunn, Getty Images

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Just how many professional tournaments there will be in the next few years is up to Ko – and potentially Whan. In his four years as commissioner, Whan said he has received "plenty of petitions and I have approved one." That was Thompson, who was given an age waiver when she was 16. In years past, Pressel, Jessica Korda and Aree Song were 17 when exempted from the age requirement, and Wie turned pro before turning 16. Accompanied by enormous publicity, expectation and endorsements, Wie struggled far more than she was victorious, then went to Stanford University and got her degree. Her tale is a cautionary one, one Whan surely knows about.

Last year, Whan denied the petition of Ariya Jutanugarn, 16, who nonetheless turned pro turned pro and is playing on the Ladies European Tour. Recently, she won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.

"You have to do what you believe is right for the player and the LPGA," said Whan, who has sole discretion on each petition. "I don't think the likelihood of getting through is very good. But there are cases that are anomalies.

" … In Lydia's run, she brings an incredible amount of attention to women's golf. And we struggle with that on a consistent basis. Personally, I hope she continues to do what she said she wants to do, and that's to stay an amateur, go to college, and I think that would be humungous as a role model for young women. Stacy Lewis got her degree and Michelle Wie went back for her degree.

"I think that's great for young girls to see.

"It's not going to be an easy decision, if it comes to that."

Pro or not, Ko will be a hit whenever she tees it up. With each of her tournaments, attention has climbed. Golf Channel decided to telecast the final round of this year's ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open live instead of on tape-delay when Ko was going for a fourth pro title. Media requests have spiked, as much for her on-course results as for a charming personality that breaks out in tons of smiles tempered by an admired modesty.

"It's been a little bit more fun, with more people getting interested in me," said Ko, who will play next play in the LPGA Lotte Championship in Hawaii in two weeks on a sponsor's exemption. "But every time I go home after a tournament, everybody wants a piece of you, especially media. Those things have been quite hard. Now I realize I can't do all the requests because then I would miss out on studying for school and miss out on my practice.